"OTTAWA—The military is seeking security and survival training for Canadian soldiers who must “operate outside the wire” in Afghanistan, a mission that had been originally been pitched as low-risk.
And they want to give the work to a private American contractor.
The revelations raise questions about why Canada must turn to the United States when a generation of soldiers has gained combat expertise risking life and limb over the last few years in Kandahar." Read more...
"Since the days of prime ministers Lester Pearson and John Diefenbaker, the federal communications bureaucracy has gradually swelled to “huge” proportions, and while this growth didn’t start with the majority governing Conservative Party, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has certainly “changed the rules,” say some political watchers.
On CBC’s The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti on Nov. 1, CTV’s Craig Oliver, speaking from over 50 years of journalistic experience covering the rein of 10 prime ministers, said in the last 30 years, the size of “media control” operations has greatly expanded." Read more...
"OTTAWA—Canada’s fleet of armoured vehicles in Afghanistan is being equipped with special devices to track the effect of bomb blasts.
The 2,000 data recorders that the military is ordering — essentially a black box for ground vehicles — will be required to study the acceleration and rotation of the vehicles as well as the internal pressure caused by the blast waves.
The pressure that results from the explosion can lead to traumatic brain injuries and other internal organ damage — one of the unique injuries that has stemmed from the decade-long war in Afghanistan.
Though combat operations ended over the summer and Canadian troops are now involved in a three-year training mission, the military says the devices are needed to fill “a gap in information/data gathered regarding incidents in theatre.” Read more...
Last week, Tonda MacCharles of the Toronto Star received a brown envelope containing a leaked copy of the new Communications Protocol Between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Public Safety Canada.
The two-page document outlines a new, closer relationship between the Mounties and the government, and raises the worrying possibility that the Tories will rebrand the force as the Royal Conservative Mounted Police.
The Conservatives are trying to change Canada's brand, because the Liberals had been so effective at manipulating the country's image in their bilingual, multicultural, red-tie-wearing ways that the Tories always seemed somehow un-Canadian. Read more...